New Year's Eve

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve already. 2011 really flew by and what a year it has been. Last year at this time I was coming home from a short vacation on the Sinai, Egypt. I had no plans and I spent January 1, 2011 relaxing and took myself out to lunch. This year I'm going to stand on the Southbank in London and watch the fireworks go off at midnight, tomorrow I have to get back to studying for exams.

2011: Palestine, Ramallah, work canceled due to violence, floating in the Dead Sea, exploring Jerusalem with my mom, staying the night at Antonia's before MAT classes the next morning, watching Shaun the Sheep, falling asleep on the service on the way home from work, buying five movies a week at my DVD store, eating Pesto pasta at least once a week, falling in love with Pringles again, friends getting married, having children, or getting new jobs, going home after months in the Middle East, having one of the best summers ever with close friends, eating all my favorite foods, skydiving, going to the Garlic Festival, spending a day at Wild Waves and feeling like a kid, sleeping in a tent in my own backyard, starting all over again in a new place, beginning my MA program in London, enjoying the street markets, tasting Tiramisu Cheesecake for the first time, experiencing an English Christmas, marveling at how fast a semester can start and end, getting a volunteer position at Amnesty International all on my own.

All that and more in one year, I wonder what 2012 will bring...

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

— Rosemary Urquico (via http://fashionbookworm.tumblr.com/)

"There are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark. Their place in your heart is tender; a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business. Just hearing their name pushes and pulls at you in a hundred ways, and when you try to define those hundred ways, describe them even to yourself, words are useless." -Sara Zarr

Piece of sky fallen to earth

I have always thought turquoise jewelry is beautiful, there's just something classic about that color paired with simple silver or gold. Native Americans, especially, make gorgeous works of art with turquoise and various metals, I like the thought that this stone is a piece of sky fallen to earth. Within the past couple of years i've picked up a few turquoise rings, they are my go-to pieces when I want to add a little something to whatever I'm wearing, it's comfortable but also pretty. I've even thought about the idea that turquoise in an elegant gold setting might make a nice engagement ring. Recently, I noticed I had been wearing my rings a lot and I remembered that turquoise happens to be my birth stone, I don't know if that's something to necessarily believe in but I wonder if it has anything to do with my attraction to it.

Happy Holidays!

I have the best mom in the world and for the holidays (my birthday, Christmas and Hanukkah) she sent me a box of presents!!! Like I said, best mom EVER.

Places I want to visit

Some of these places have specific attributes that attract me, others just sound fun.

Antarctica
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
China
Ethiopia
Greece
Greenland
Iceland
Italy
Ireland
Scotland
Spain

Picture 1: Apple Juice from Cheddar, tart and delicious
Picture 2: Chocolate cupcake with Salted Caramel icing
from Southbank Chocolate Festival

Ice Skating at Somerset House

I went ice skating for the first time ever today! Tiffany's is sponsoring a rink at Somerset House right next to my campus. It was a lot of fun and I didn't faceplant, not even once.

One Day with a side of carrot cake

"Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place." -Rumi

"If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel— as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them— wherever you go." -Anthony Bourdain

Cheddar Abbey

My mom came to visit last week. On wednesday we rented a car and drove to Bath and then to Glastonbury, where we stayed the night. I especially liked seeing the Abbey. The next day we went to Cheddar (where they make cheese!) they had all different kinds of cheese. Mom and I really liked the garlic and chives flavor. We even bought some but accidentally left it in Glastonbury at the place we were staying so they had to mail it back to us in Lodon. Sadly it arrived today after my mom left. We drove back to London on Friday, stopping in Stonehenge, it wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Over the weekend we visited Spitalfields and Portobello Market. My mom bought a beautiful necklace at Portobello Market that is from the 1920's. Tuesday we took the train to Brighton and then in the evening we saw the play Jerusalem. She left this morning but hopefully she will be back in the spring after classes end!

Oxford Street

So today after class I went to Oxford Street for the first time with the intention of hunting down this scarf that I really want at the huge Topshop there. Of course when I get there they tell me the color I want is out of stock buuuuut I ended up browsing and splurged on this gorgeous black leather clutch. I couldn't stop myself. It is handmade and has a tooled design on the leather. The clutch is made by this London brand Etui and I looked it up online but I couldn't find much information about it. The only thing I found was a fashion post talking about how the author got a clutch here last year and it seems to be exclusive to the Topshop on Oxford Street. I should probably stay away from Oxford Street but it was nice to be amongst the hustle and bustle, it made me feel like I was in New York City.

Weekend Wandering

First Week

So I've completed my first week of classes. I am officially a graduate student. That sounds old...but anyway, classes went quite well. It's nice to be busy again. I was getting a bit sick of just wandering around. This weekend some friends and I are going to go see Mulan at the BFI theatre. It's going to be totally EPIC.

Portobello Market

On Saturday I went to Portobello Market. The Market is very long and it was extremely hot so it took me a while to make my way through the whole thing. There was tons of vintage clothing, old cameras, and beautiful old jewelry. There was also a whole store full of ancient sewing machines. They made quite a picture on shelves climbing as high as the ceiling. I also tried a rich vanilla cupcake from Hummingbird Bakery.

Borough Market

Last Thursday I went to Borough Market for the first time. It's very close to the London Bridge with part of it under the train tracks. I ate some delicious ravioli with pesto sauce and finally tried the tiramisu cheesecake.

Kopparberg

I finally tried Kopparberg Cider again, I had the Pear in New York a couple of years ago and then tonight I tried Elderflower and Lime, which sounds strange but was quite yummy.

Spitalfields Market

So I'm really into the fact that there are so many street markets in London. Today I went to Spitalfields Market, there were a lot of crafts and clothing and cool leather purses. I bought a beautiful painting that I need to figure how to hang on my wall without making holes. Afterwards I sat and had some soup and bread for lunch and then met up with my friend David who arrived yesterday, he is also going to school here this year.

Dinner

Out Of This World

Today I went to the British Library near King's Cross Station to see the Science Fiction/Fantasy exhibit "Out Of This World." It was pretty cool, there were examples of all kinds of Sci/Fi literature and how imagination can give fruit to reality in the future, etc. I had fun going through the bookstore and since I love buying postcards I bought a few Alice in Wonderland ones, an interesting comic map one from 1877 and a picture of robots in victorian outfits on what looks like a gondola. On the way home I stopped off in Covent Garden, bought some groceries and then hauled it all back across the bridge but right as I turned onto my street I saw a pink limo and just had to get a quick picture of it driving away.

A Bid for Statehood

On another note, there are exciting proposals passing through the General Assembly in New York this week. The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, stood before the GA today and made his bid for recognition of a Palestinian State. The United States has said they will veto this bid in the Security Council but hopefully if Palestine can not gain recognition of statehood they can at least obtain something more than observer status and restart negotiations. Then again, since I'm not a political scientist my one time professor makes some good points in his Op-ed which you can find here.

Sweet Things

Went to the market again today and had another one of those yummy grilled cheese sandwiches. I thought about getting Poffertjes, which are like tiny pancakes covered with butter and powdered sugar, but instead I brought home a slice of Red Velvet, I just can't resist...

About Town

Today I walked over the bridge and explored more of the area. It's currently London Fashion Week so there were some very stylish looking people strutting about town.

Strada

Well I was planning on opening my bank account today but the bank closed at 3:30pm so instead I walked around with my friend Sadie. We went into a cute bakery planning on buying something but they had free samples and nothing quite caught our eye enough to buy so we snagged a couple and promised to be back. Then we walked down to Southbank and ran into our friend Sharmaine who came with us to grab some food at this Italian place called Strada. On the way we stopped to watch people skating in this awesome skatepark.

Brick Lane

Today I took the tube and went to Brick Lane. They are known for their curry restaurants and Sunday market. I bought a yummy raspberry and white chocolate muffin and a vegetable burrito. There was also a lot of cool graffiti.